• Audric Estime leads the Denver Broncos in rushing: Jaleel McLaughlin’s injury left more opportunities for Estime, but the Broncos still utilized a three-man rotation.
• Gus Edwards scores twice for the Los Angeles Chargers: Edwards helped the Chargers stay in the game, and a 43-yard run late in the fourth quarter helped the Chargers secure a victory.
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Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
PFF's fantasy football recap focuses on player usage and stats, breaking down all the vital information you need to achieve fantasy success in 2024.
Denver Broncos @ Los Angeles Chargers
- Gus Edwards: 11 carries, 28 yards, 2 touchdowns, 1 reception, 3 receiving yards
- Ladd McConkey: 6 receptions, 87 receiving yards
Broncos stick with committee without Jaleel McLaughlin: The second-year running back was inactive due to a quad injury.
The Broncos have used three halfbacks on offense in all 15 games this season. Early in the season, it was often only for a few snaps, but starting in Week 7, Audric Estime often played between five and 10 snaps. With McLaughlin out, Estime received a slight increase in snaps, but he split those backup snaps with Blake Watson.
The undrafted rookie out of Memphis started training camp as sixth on the depth chart, but the Broncos released Samaje Perine, and Tyler Badie suffered a season-ending injury early in the season. McLaughlin’s injury pushed him up to third.
Estime made his first career NFL start, but on the first drive, it was clear that Javonte Williams was still the main running back. Watson came in six plays into the first drive, which is earlier than Estime would usually get involved when the top three backs were healthy.
While Williams led the team in snaps and was effective as a rusher, Estime led the team in carries. Williams, on the other hand, led the team in terms of targets. Even if McLaughlin misses another game, it will be hard to trust any of the running backs next week against the Cincinnati Bengals. It is an average matchup, but there is a decent enough chance that either Williams or Estime could lead the team in touches.
The Broncos backfield will be one of the most talked about backfields this offseason, as there is a decent chance they add a player who could be the starter.
Marvin Mims Jr. steps up: The Broncos' second-year receiver played a season-high in offensive snaps.
Early in the season, it was surprising that Mims was a clear fifth on the depth chart. That appeared to be true regardless of which four wide receivers were ahead of him, as the team let go of Tim Patrick or others were injured, and rookies would simply overtake him on the depth chart.
Mims playing time has slowly but surely trended up all season to the point where he’s rotated with Troy Franklin in three-receiver sets. After being held to 20 yards or less in each of the first 10 games, Mims gained at least 40 receiving yards in three of his previous four games and scored two touchdowns.
This week, he played significantly more snaps, playing ahead of Franklin more often than not. This meant he was one of the three main receivers in three-receiver sets. Mims caught a 53-yard pass, which brought the Broncos close to scoring and also had a catch where he was brought down on the one-yard line. He ended up leading the team in receiving yards.
The Broncos will likely have Courtland Sutton, Devaughn Vele, Mims and Franklin on the roster next season. Given Sean Payton’s history of rotating wide receivers, this group will likely be frustrating for fantasy managers at least through 2025.
Hayden Hurst returns to a small role: Hurst was activated off injured reserve earlier in the day.
Hurst had last played in Week 10, missing the last five games due to a hip injury. Hurst had started the season as the Chargers' primary receiving tight end, but he suffered an injury in Week 6. In that time, Will Dissly took over as the primary receiving tight end. Hurst returned to a very limited role in Week 9.
Dissly suffered a shoulder injury in Week 14 that’s kept him out the last two weeks, which has given Stone Smartt time to step up. Smartt continued to be the primary receiving tight end in this game, taking the same snaps we expected out of Hurst early in the season and expected out of Dissly for most of the season. Tucker Fisk remained the blocking tight end, a role he gained once Dissly moved from blocking tight end to receiving tight end. This left Hurst third on the depth chart, as he was mostly used in blocking situations in multiple tight end sets. As the game progressed, Hurst started running a few pass routes in Smartt's place.
Hurst has played for five different teams in the last six years and will likely need to make it a sixth different team if he wants to extend his NFL career. Either Dissly or Smartt will likely rank as a top-20 fantasy tight end next week, but not in the top-10 for anyone desperate for a tight end during fantasy championship weekend.
Miscellaneous Notes
- After Kimani Vidal was the clear third-down back last week, Hassan Haskins returned to playing in most of the clear passing situations. This left Vidal as just the early down backup. While Vidal was a waiver-wire pickup in past weeks in case he became the lead running back, he can be cut this week because he isn’t someone worth starting in Week 17.
- The Chargers placed backup wide receiver Jalen Reagor on injured reserve earlier in the week. He had been the Chargers' fourth wide receiver over the past month since Simi Fehoko landed on injured reserve. The Chargers replaced Reagor with a player at a different position, leaving Derius Davis and D.J. Chark as the only backups.
Table Notes
- Snaps include plays called back due to penalties, including offensive holding or defensive pass interference. The other three stats have these plays removed.
- Targets may differ from official NFL sources. The most likely discrepancy would be from a clear thrown-away pass, where the NFL may give the target to the nearest receiver, while this data will not.
- Carries are only on designed plays. Quarterback scrambles won’t count for the total number of carries in the game.
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